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‘How Paid Internships Are Putting Unemployed Youth in Manufacturing Jobs’ – Forbes, Online

Youth unemployment is a global issue. According to a McKinsey & Company report, young people worldwide are three times more likely than their parents to be out of work. In the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries, more than one in eight of 15 to 24-year-olds are NEET (Not in Employment, Education or Training). The International Labor Organization estimates globally, 75 million young people are unemployed. Yet many entry-level jobs around the world remain unfulfilled because companies cannot find employees with the right skills.

Add to this crisis the misleading narrative that to secure a good, long-term job, you need a four-year college degree. Sure, a college degree is an asset in the United States and abroad, but there are other ways to secure a sustainable career, especially in manufacturing.

Minding The Skills Gap In Manufacturing Through Paid Internships

As the manufacturing sector shifts towards more highly skilled jobs, Arconic Foundation and Legacy Alcoa Foundation are working on innovative solutions to provide the training and experience necessary for young employees to fill these positions through its Global Internship Program for Unemployed Youth.

Since the program’s inception, more than 700 unemployed youth (aged 18 to 24) in Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Russia, Spain, the United Kingdom and the US received workforce readiness training and paid internships with local manufacturers. An often-overlooked source for building the advanced manufacturing talent pipeline, unemployed and underemployed youth are critical to our local industry’s future success.

Under the watchful eye of their employers, interns are learning skills on the job to serve them for decades to come. A mid-program evaluation of the program revealed some startling discoveries:

• before their internship, interns often struggled to build confidence; 90% of participants said they gained confidence in their abilities because of the program;

• their experience allowed them to learn skills to feel better able to contribute;

• among the top takeaways from their intern supervisors was the importance of time management, which interns honed during their workplace experience.

Recognizing The Power Of Soft Skills

While new and emerging technologies are redefining the nature of today’s workforce, relationships are important. That’s particularly true for industries not usually associated with offering soft skills or opportunities such as genuine mentorship.

For example, intern Elizabeth Kaehr said mentors were an integral part of her internship experience – she had several while at work at the City of Lynden’s waste and water treatment plant. She secured her internship while a student at Bellingham Technical College in Washington. Kaehr learned how to collect water samples, collect compost, do pressure washing as well as how to clean out pump stations and sedimentation basins and retrieve and test samples. She says her mentors helped guide her on hard career decisions and appreciate opportunities new to her. The relationships she developed through her internship, she says, will help her advance her career.

Similarly, oceans away, Caitlyn participated in a six-week paid internship at Accredited Distributors, an industry partner of Northern Futures, which works with Legacy Alcoa Foundation. Living in supportive youth housing, Caitlyn was able to access resources and training through the partnership. It meant she was job-ready to apply for warehouse roles after the program. What got her there was learning a range of tasks and receiving one-on-one attention to do so. She developed confidence and skills in picking and packing with a scanner and also driving a forklift and unloading a truck.

When she graduated, she learned she was selected to take part in a year-long full time employment project, 180 Degrees at Cotton On Group Distribution Centre, an Australian clothing retailer with almost 1,200 stores in 12 countries, and 17,000 employees worldwide. Caitlyn tapped into skills she developed while an intern during the 2014 project.

Employers Benefitting Through Partnerships

In many cases, it’s not just the mentees and interns who benefit. Manufacturers gain motivated interns eager to learn and show their worth to prospective employers. That helps them increase their bottom line. Also, manufacturers can learn new ways to tackle issues they may not have considered.

Youth unemployment might be a global issue. But it can be solved with innovative programs and partners who are willing to work together to provide the necessary soft and hard skills to our youth.

Investment in our youth goes beyond feeling good about being a good corporate citizen, although an argument could be made that it’s an important consideration.

Investments in manufacturing have contributed to better standards of living and more jobs and they’re having a ripple effect for the broader economy. According to The Manufacturing Institute’s Skills Gap Report, every dollar spent in manufacturing adds $1.37 to the U.S. economy and every 100 jobs in a manufacturing facility creates an additional 250 jobs in other sectors.

Manufacturing and supporting our youth matters.

View Online:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/nicholaswyman/2017/09/28/how-paid-internships-are-putting-unemployed-youth-in-manufacturing-jobs/#348aa4127f33

‘How To Earn Six Figures Without A Four-Year Degree’ – 1A, Online

Source: http://the1a.org/shows/2017-06-12/how-to-earn-six-figures-without-a-four-year-degree

By 2025, two million jobs will be unfilled because U.S. companies won’t be able to find the skilled labor they need.
Many of these jobs provide a middle-class salary — some pay six figures annually — and don’t require a four-year-degree.

How to get one of these jobs? Apprenticeships. This age-old practice with origins in medieval times is now gaining traction again in the United States. Economists and corporate leaders say apprenticeships can lead to interesting and stable careers, ranging from robotics and mechanical design to medical sciences and even high-end gourmet cuisine — all without college debt. We’ll explore how to find an apprenticeship, the pros and cons and common misunderstandings.

Image Caption: An instructor at the Siemens training center in Berlin, Germany with apprentices. In Germany, apprenticeship training is much more common than in the United States. (Photo by Adam Berry/Getty Images) misunderstandings.

What Is An Apprenticeship And How To Get One
By Nicholas Wyman, CEO, Institute for Wokplace Skills and Innovation; author of “Job U: How To Find Wealth And Success By Developing The Skills Companies Actually Need”
How does an apprenticeship typically work?
An apprenticeship is a structured accreditation program that provides participants with the building blocks to master a specific occupational area and learn hands-on skills under the direct supervision of a skilled expert. It is important to note that because apprenticeships are a nascent industry in the United States, they are often confused with internships. In fact, at present, the line is very fine between the two. Briefly, internships are generally short-term; involve little or no pay; and are inconsistent across the board concerning rigor, degree of responsibility and supervision.
What types of roles and industries do you find apprenticeships in?
Today’s apprenticeship programs are becoming more sophisticated and progressive and found in a variety of modern fields from engineering and sales and marketing to computer programming and health care. Many of the knowledge-economy jobs available in the United States can be effectively learned through apprenticeship.
When should you consider taking on an apprenticeship?
Whether currently unemployed, unhappily employed, or simply wishing to experience the joys of learning a new skill through hands-on work, it’s time to seek out apprenticeship programs in your area. Apprenticeships are not just for young people. They are for people of all ages and all stages of life.

Where do you find an apprenticeship?
Although the formal apprenticeship concept is rapidly gaining traction in the United States, no central site exists to access opportunities. However, there are several useful places to take the next step.

Source: http://the1a.org/shows/2017-06-12/how-to-earn-six-figures-without-a-four-year-degree

‘Is Vocational Education an Unviable Alternative to University or College?’ – HuffPost, Online

Do you consider vocational education a unviable alternative to university or college? You are not alone. However, you need to think again. I would like to invite you to put aside your pre-conceived

beliefs about vocational education and training (VET) and let me explain how misconceptions about VET are hurting the next generation’s chances of a meaningful future at work.

We have all heard the old adage ‘perception is reality’, but when it comes to VET, nothing is further from the truth. Here’s my premise: Skills-based education gives young people the chance to get experience and gain confidence early. It can catapult them into steady jobs, a great pay packet and, more than likely, a future-proof career.

Have you ever thought or believed any of these common statements? Well, allow me to bust these myths.

Myth 1. Apprenticeships are old fashioned – they aren’t funky

Actually, they are. And they’re really coming into their own in major economies.

For example, in the US, after waning and being restricted to a narrow range of fields over the past few decades, apprenticeship programs are coming back in a big way. There are more than 505,000 people in the US currently enrolled as apprentices – the highest rate in eight years, and US apprenticeship programs are increasingly offering the entry key to careers in a vast array of growing fields such as IT, health care, hospitality and advanced manufacturing, to name a few.

Despite that, 8 of 10 people surveyed by the US National Association of Manufacturers said they would not encourage their own children to enter the manufacturing field.

Those same people said they view manufacturing as critical to the prosperity and security of the US (90% of those surveyed actually ranked manufacturing top of the list of important industries!).

The same ‘it’s essential work, but not for my kids’ dynamic exists in Australia. Various research shows parents overwhelming respect the importance of manufacturing as a national priority, but not when it comes to wanting their children to pursue a career in that sector. Go figure.

Meanwhile, among northern and central European countries, between 40 and 70 per cent of high-school students opt for vocational education. After completing three years of combined on-the-job and classroom learning, students graduate with a qualification that carries real weight in the labour market, and a pathway to even higher levels of education and earnings.

‘Apprenticeships can be the key to Trump’s promise to create millions of new American jobs’ – Qz, Online

By Nicholas Wyman, 29 April 2017

At the recent White House roundtable discussion on vocational education attended by president Trump and German chancellor Angela Merkel, Marc Benioff, chairman and CEO of Salesforce, called on the President to “take a moonshot goal to create 5 million apprenticeships in the next five years.”

Given the president campaigned on a promise to deliver 25 million new jobs over the next 10 years, Beinoff’s go big or go home attitude was perfectly pitched for his audience. In response Trump readily agreed, stating “let’s do that, let’s go for that 5 million.”

That statement pricked up the ears of vocational training advocates across the country who have been hoping his administration will seize the untapped growth potential for apprenticeship programs in this country, and issue an official announcement soon. The time is right to pursue a Benioff’s goal, which could potentially offer a myriad of new opportunities to millions of Americans to have better, fulfilling careers, whilst making a significant down payment on the President’s 25 million jobs promise.

While we have been getting used to regular good news on the labor front, with over 450,000 new hires across January and February, with unemployment near nine year lows at 4.7% and the economy inching towards full employment, these figures mask two chronic, nagging problems.

The first is persistently high youth joblessness—a consequence of too many young people completing high school (and college) without gathering meaningful work experience or marketable skills. US youth unemployment is around 10% percent nationally, and twice that in many urban areas. The second problem is of employers who are unable to find people with the skill set required to get the job done—the “skills gap” is harder to measure, but it is conservatively estimated that upwards of 5.9 million jobs are currently unfilled.

The power of apprenticeship programs in reducing youth unemployment and narrowing the skills gap by creating custom skilled workers has long been demonstrated in northern Europe, where this centuries-old form of learning remains strong and enjoys both business and societal support. (Germany’s leadership in this domain was the key reason for Merkel’s attendance.)

There, the majority of high school students graduate with substantial vocational training and work experience under their belts. Of those who do not go directly to university, a large percentage enter apprenticeship programs, which are widely available across many industries. The transition between the world of school and the world of work is much more integrated than what we typically witness here in the US. Apprenticeship programs provide these young people with the skills they require to get and keep well-paying jobs, and businesses get to access the skilled workers they require.

An apprentice is an employee who earns as they learn, both on the job and, in a community college or tech school classroom. Learning under the guidance of an experienced tradesperson, the apprentice masters a valuable and often highly paid occupation. Several years of hands-on learning equips the worker with exactly the skills and experience they will need for a productive work life and career. As an approach to making people employable and boosting the skilled labor supply, the apprenticeship model delivers the greatest bang for the buck.

The term apprentice however still conjures up images from earlier times, of a young person in a leather apron making barrels, hand-looming cloth, silver smithing, or shaping a red-hot piece of iron on an anvil. However, if that’s what pops into your mind, think again.

Twenty-first century apprenticeships are more sophisticated and progressive, and are found in modern fields beyond the blue collar such as IT and cyber security, advanced manufacturing, energy, construction, healthcare, transport and logistics and hospitality. Indeed, many of today’s most attractive knowledge economy jobs can be learned through apprenticeships.
One of the great strengths of an apprenticeship is the unique relationship it creates between mentor and learner. This multigenerational ‘pay it forward’ relationship is more personal and interactive than anything we find in the academic world of professors. Apprentices do not sit passively in lecture halls. Instead, they engage in active exchanges that involve diagnosing problems, forming and testing opinions, receiving direct feedback and collaborating on solutions. These experiences develop the apprentice’s workplace sophistication, maturity, sense of accountability, and problem-solving power—virtues that benefit both apprentice and employer.

So how could the Trump administration begin to tackle Benioff’s ‘moonshot’ target of 5 million apprentices? One way would be to better reallocate existing dollars from ineffective academic only programs to apprenticeship and other cost-effective strategies which directly deal with identified skill mismatches and shortages at a local level. With this reallocated funding, the government should seek to provide market-targeted incentives to private training organizations, community colleges, state and local agencies to market and provide financial support for the rapid nationwide expansion of apprenticeships.

Apprenticeships offer a solid bridge between school and the world of work, attack the root causes of youth unemployment, and create a pathway to successful and rewarding careers.

It’s time. Apprenticeship has never been more relevant, or more necessary.

Source:

https://qz.com/943818/apprenticeships-can-be-the-key-to-trumps-promise-to-create-millions-of-new-american-jobs/

‘Why 5 Million Apprenticeships Will Make America Great Again’ – Forbes, Online

by Nicholas Wyman.

The White House roundtable last week has shone a spotlight on the countries job, skills and training needs for the 21st century workplace. With German Chancellor Angela Merkel and leading American and German industrial CEOs seated at the Cabinet table, President Donald Trump praised Germany’s long-term approach in using on apprenticeships programs to develop its workforce’ skills, declaring “The German apprenticeship model is one of the proven programs to developing a highly skilled workforce. Germany has been amazing at this.”

The U.S., he stated, must embrace innovation in technical and vocational education and explore effective non-college approaches, like apprenticeships to prepare people for the trade, manufacturing and other well-paying careers of the future.

And its easy to understand why: Germany, despite having the highest wage costs in the world, has a significantly lower unemployment (4.2%) and youth unemployment (6.5%) rate than the U.S. (4.9% and 9.9%) or any other comparable country. It also has a an export economy focused high-value manufacturing: last last year Germany lodged a record trade current account deficit of U.S. $297 billion – nearly 8.5% of GDP – and runs strong budget surpluses.

As these enviable economic outcomes are substantively underpinned by Germany’s commitment to wide and varied apprenticeship training pathways, it was no surprise to hear CEO after CEO outline how their firm’s approaches to expanding vocational pathways and call for the expansion of apprenticeship programs in the U.S.

Marc Benioff, chairman and CEO of Salesforce, even encouraged the president to “take a moonshot goal to create five million apprenticeships in the next five years.”

The president’s response “let’s do that, let’s go for that five million” was mightily encouraging to apprenticeship advocates across the nation.

Image: In Germany, vocational training is ingrained in the education culture. Apprentices learn the basics of precision filing at the Siemens training center, Berlin. (Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images)

A target of five million apprenticeships, may seem a significant stretch as the U.S. currently has just on 500,000 active apprentice positions, however, a unified approach to expanding this mode of training would not also generate improved economic and employment conditions for our citizens, but also put a big dent into several related social and budgetary problems, for example:

• Closing the “skills gap” that is acting as a handbrake on business investment in capacity expansion in the U.S. A shortage of skilled job candidates regularly tops of list of CEO complaints.

• High youth joblessness and underemployment. Millions are unemployed or stuck in low-wage, temporary jobs, with little hope of moving up. Apprenticeships will help people avoid a range of poverty and welfare traps.

• Stagnant wages. Wages stagnate when productivity fails to grow. Apprenticeships turn out workers trained to the cutting edge of industry, to ensure maximum productivity. (Most newly minted apprentices pull down starting pay from $45,000 to $60,000, out-earning the majority of their bachelor degree peers).

Yet despite knowledge of the benefits and superior outcomes generated by German and other European vocational training systems, only a small percentage of U.S. high school graduates enter apprenticeships, compared to their counterparts in some high-income EU countries.

Why is that? Blame could be reasonably apportioned onto many heads: high schools that have eliminated vocation education; some counselors and parents who think that the only pathway to a successful and rewarding career runs through a four-year college degree; and a job snobbery, where many in society look down their nose at careers that involve making or fixing things. On the front line, its more a chicken-egg problem. There are far too few apprenticeship offers from companies for many schools and counselors to pay much attention.

The unacknowledged reality is that too many young Americans are being pushed towards college will not graduate. According to the Department of Labor, 69.2% of the three million 2015 high school graduates subsequently enrolled in colleges or universities.

Yet the six year graduation rate is only six in 10. So, what becomes of those 40% who will drop out? Chances are they will be saddled with student debt, no qualification, an incomplete skill set and will have lost some formative years of training. As this is the scenario facing roughly 850,000 young Americans each year, we need to do better.

So, in the wake of the big White House skills roundtable, what can business leaders and the Trump administration do to rapidly scale up apprenticeships? Here are three easy to achieve suggestions:

1. Redirect tax dollars from ineffective government job-training programs and weak academic programs to incentives that encourage private companies to offer more apprenticeships.

2. Establish a major marketing effort to promote apprenticeships and to make apprenticeships more straightforward to create.

3. Insist that major contractors on federally funded infrastructure projects incorporate apprentices in their work crews.

Encouragingly, there are many great and inspiring examples of apprenticeship programs (and apprentices!) which gives me hope that we can close our skills gaps.

To deliver on his promises to create 25 million new jobs in ten years, recreate industrial America and bring back U.S. manufacturing, it is clear the president should grasp Marc Benioff’s “moonshoot” suggestion, set an ambitious target of five million apprentices in five years.

The result be would be a significant down payment on the president’s 25 million jobs target, the expansion of the most cost-effective skills training model across America and as well as positively impacting the lives of potential millions of people along the way.

That’s the thing about shooting for the moon – even if you miss, you’ll land among the stars!

Link:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/nicholaswyman/2017/03/21/why-5-million-apprenticeships-will-make-america-great-again/#6a8223c22fce

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